Transforming Community Living: Rancho Mission Viejo's Mobile Success
Ranch Life Case Study
The Objective
- Create a mobile experience that brings Rancho Mission Viejo's branding and vision to the community's everyday devices, fostering deeper connections.
- Reach Rancho Mission Viejo's diverse home shoppers and residents.
- Invest in financially sustainable technology for the long-term community.
Result
- Over 90% adoption in 90 days of launching in 2017
- 98% adoption with over 9,000 residents in 2024
- Personalized communication for home shoppers and residents across multiple user groups
Rancho Mission Viejo is a 23,000-acre ranch in Southern California and the last active cattle ranch in Orange County. It is also home to a master-planned community of the same name. Developed on a portion of the ranch, this 6,000-acre community is expected to feature 14,000 homes and 6,000 Gavlián 55+ residences upon completion.
For Paul Johnson, now retired Senior Vice President of Community Development at Rancho Mission Viejo, the key to developing a thriving master-planned community of the size and stature of Rancho Mission Viejo lies in a three-pronged approach. The goal was to create great spaces, build a strong physical community, and make it sustainable, ensuring the lifestyle remains operationally and financially feasible long after the community is complete.
"There is nothing worse than the developer being there, creating these great marketing moments, and the minute you walk away, there is no way the community can maintain the same operations financially."
Although sustainability offers long-term benefits, it doesn't necessarily align with the short-term goal of selling homes. Bridging financial sustainability with an experience that would help sell homes became a top initiative for Rancho Mission Viejo.
"We knew we wanted to create an app to help residents build connections the way they desired. Since everyone has a cell phone and, in 2017, when we started, you could do everything online, we decided to offer a mobile experience for all aspects of their lifestyle."
Paul envisioned an app that offered a comprehensive mobile experience of lifestyle living, fully branded to Rancho Mission Viejo. This seamless integration with their marketing efforts effectively conveys their vision and messaging, highlighting the unique qualities of The Ranch.
Building a native app posed challenges, primarily since nothing like it existed on the market in 2017. To navigate this, Paul and his team turned to April LaMon and Mike Swanson who were well known for their work in digital behavior analytics.
"April and Mike got the concept immediately and knew they could execute. Over the next few months, they embedded themselves with the Rancho Mission Viejo team and launched the app almost six months ahead of our anticipated schedule."
Within 90 days of launching the Ranch Life app, over 90% of the residents had logged in and were using its features. Still, with a focus on always offering what the community needed, they looked one step further at how they could manage access control through the app.
"Alosant developed a Bluetooth conversion for all 400 of our access points, allowing anyone with the Ranch Life App to open any facility they had permission to. This new enhancement also allowed us to manage control better and understand what doors folks were opening and when."
The Ranch Life App has over 9,000 users across multiple user groups, including active adults, Gavlián 55+ residents, apartment dwellers, and more. The app enjoys over 98% adoption today. With features like access control and enhanced personalization, Rancho Mission Viejo can now create a lifestyle experience for home shoppers and residents that matches everyone's unique needs.
To learn more about Rancho Mission Viejo and hear other thoughts and learnings from Paul Johnson, listen to our Communities Connected podcast episode featuring Paul.
What mobile app does Rancho Mission Viejo use for residents?
Rancho Mission Viejo uses the RanchLife app, powered by Alosant, to give residents a branded mobile experience for community life. The app supports resident communication, events, classes, clubs, programming, access control, and personalized experiences across multiple user groups. Rancho Mission Viejo describes the RanchLife app as the easiest way for residents to learn about the latest events, classes, clubs, and programming happening in the community. The Alosant-powered app is designed to be fast, convenient, and always up to date.
How successful is the RanchLife app at Rancho Mission Viejo?
The RanchLife app was highly successful after launch, reaching more than 90% resident adoption within 90 days in 2017. By 2024, the Alosant-powered app had more than 9,000 users and 98% adoption across Rancho Mission Viejo residents. For a large Southern California community expected to include up to 14,000 homes and approximately 6,000 Gavilián 55+ residences at completion, this level of app adoption shows how a branded Alosant-powered app can become part of everyday community life.
How does Alosant support access control at Rancho Mission Viejo?
Alosant supports access control at Rancho Mission Viejo through the RanchLife app, allowing residents to use their mobile device to enter facilities they have permission to access. Alosant developed a Bluetooth conversion for approximately 400 access points, helping Rancho Mission Viejo manage access through the same app residents already use for everyday life. Mobile Access Control through the Alosant-powered RanchLife app gives the community team better visibility into which doors and facilities residents are using and when. The same mobile access experience also creates more convenience for residents by connecting access control directly to the branded RanchLife app.
How does the RanchLife app personalize communication for different residents?
The RanchLife app helps Rancho Mission Viejo personalize communication across multiple user groups, including home shoppers, residents, active adults, Gavilián 55+ residents, apartment dwellers, and other audiences. Segmented communication groups allow the community to share the most relevant information based on each person’s relationship to The Ranch. For Rancho Mission Viejo, a community with multiple villages, parks, pools, clubhouses, sports fields, community farms, schools, and retail spaces, personalized communication helps residents and prospects stay connected to the information and experiences that matter most to them. Rancho Mission Viejo says the RanchLife app, powered by Alosant, brings everyone together through places and programs designed to encourage and enrich the community.
Why did Rancho Mission Viejo invest in a branded mobile app?
Rancho Mission Viejo invested in an Alosant-powered branded community app to bring its community vision, resident lifestyle, and long-term operating strategy into one financially sustainable mobile experience. The goal of the RanchLife app was to create a mobile experience that supports connection, personalized communication, access, and everyday lifestyle participation while reflecting the Rancho Mission Viejo brand. The Alosant-powered RanchLife app aligns with the larger vision for The Ranch, a 23,000-acre historic ranch in South Orange County that includes a master-planned community, working ranch, livestock, orchards, and a nature reserve. Rancho Mission Viejo highlights its long history of land stewardship and notes that more than 75% of The Ranch lands are preserved as The Nature Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo.
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